Tag: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked theMaharashtra government to explain in detail its decision to release Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt early from jail on grounds of good conduct.

A division bench of Justice RM Sawant and Justice Sadhna Jadhav directed the government to file an affidavit justifying its decision, what parameters were considered for letting the actor out eight months early, and the procedures followed while showing leniency towards him.

Dutt was convicted and sentenced to five years in an arms possession case connected to the March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case which he served in Yerawada Central Jail, Pune. He was released on February 25, 2016.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Pune-based activist Pradeep Bhalekarchallenging the series of furloughs and paroles granted to Dutt when he was serving his sentence.The court sought to know if the Deputy Inspector General, Prisons was consulted, or whether the Jail Superintendent sent the recommendation directly to the Maharashtra Governor.

“How did the authorities assess that Dutt’s conduct was good. When did they get time to make such an assessment when he was out on parole half the time?” asked Justice Sawant.

GST Implimentation-The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking deferment of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).A division bench, headed by Justice V K Tahilramani, said it was not inclined to interfere in the government’s decision to implement the GST.

The PIL, filed by city resident K S Pillai last month, challenged the Union government’s decision to roll out the major tax reform in the middle of the financial year. The petition had sought a direction from the high courtto the government for deferment of the implementation of the GST till the beginning of the next financial year.

The Centre had opposed the petition and said the decision to implement the GST had been carefully considered by Parliament. The Union government also said that the implementation of the GST was in public interest.

“There is no prohibition in the law to prevent the government from implementing any Tax reform at any point in the year as long as it has the sanction of Parliament,” Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh had earlier argued.